Contents

Character history

Childhood and early years

Trevor Philips was born in 1965 to Mrs. Philips and an unnamed father in Canada, close to the American border. His father was a customer at a brothel that his mother had worked at in the 60s, and it is assumed his brother Ryan, came from the same situation. The boys were "raised" by their physically and sexually abusive "fathers" and overbearing mother in trailer parks and brothels. Trevor claims he never had a father, and he doesn't classify any of the eight men who took on the short-lived roles of "daddy" as actual father figures. The boys (or at least just Trevor) had also been forced into small rooms and crawlspaces as children as punishment. His brother Ryan died at an unknown time and in unclear circumstances. He tells Wade Hebert during the mission Friends Reunited, that he sodomized his hockey coach with a hockey stick when he didn't make the team. He was also in a tennis club as a child, stating to Michael Townley during tennis that they may have been in the same class. He also developed a fear of clowns as a child. He claims that his father abandoned him in a shopping mall and that he later burned the mall down, this may be the first man that Trevor assumed was his biological father.

Late teens, early adult hood

Trevor took up hunting in his young adulthood, mainly hunting deer and foxes. While golfing, Trevor will reminisce that he was once the Canadian under-eighteen golfing champion and that he almost turned professional in the early '80s. At one point during his childhood or adolescence Trevor has slept with his own mother for unknown reasons. Trevor mentions during a hangout with Franklin Clinton that he's lived in two countries, fifteen states, had eight fathers, fourteen homes, a damaged flower of a mother, and has committed every mortal sin. Trevor later joined the military and flew jets in the hope of dropping "the nuke" but was discharged due to his mental instability.

Around this point in Trevor's life, he became more deeply disturbed, and began murdering homeless people, hitchhikers, and drifters for no apparent reason other than the thrill. Possibly motivated by his devastation of not becoming an Air force pilot like he always wanted, and taking large quantities of hard drugs. While drunk, Trevor will state that the San An Strangler is on the loose, and then mentions that he doesn't strangle anymore. Depending on the area, he may have just attributed his location with Strangler as his serial killer nickname. Trevor may have had work as a trucker at some point in his early life, as he praises the lifestyle and freedom that truckers have to Lamar Davis, claiming that "truckers are a symbol of this country", and also doesn't deny Lamar's accusation that he -like most truckers- "cut up women and got other dudes to jerk him off". This could mean a lot of his serial killer instinct murders were perpetrated while he worked as a trucker. Either during or after his trucking days, Trevor continuously committed petty crimes.

By 1985, Trevor had started running his own air freight outfit in North Yankton. A "tiny operation" as he claims. He used a single Beagle that he could borrow from an unnamed associate when he needed it. He claims they were just kids so it can be assumed the associate was also in his early twenties. Trevor's associate got word from another man that he needed some hot cargo moved across the Canadian/American border. The job paid well, and Trevor didn't know enough at this point to check references so he joined without hesitation.

A few days later while waiting on the runway for one guy and the cargo, he noticed two cars coming instead of the one he was expecting. When the first car entered through, Michael Townley -a man Trevor describes as "...my age, just twenty. Kind of fat, but strong underneath."- hopped out and started running towards Trevor. The second vehicle enters, and an old man stumbles out, continuously yelling and waving his arms, pointing at Michael. Playing "peacemaker, concerned citizen" as Trevor puts it, he intercepts the old man, and shoots a flare gun he had been carrying around off into his eye, killing him.

It seems the altercation goes unexplained by Michael as Trevor doesn't state any reasoning behind it. However it can be assumed that Michael stole something from the man, possibly intending on taking the cargo for himself and giving no profit to the employer. Trevor and Michael decided to take the unspecified cargo into Canada, and they bring the body of the old man into the plane, dumping him out of a plane into a lake. While in the plane, the flare had still been burning in the mans head, and Trevor states the Beagle never smelt the same again. Upon landing in Canada, both Trevor and Michael vomited when getting out of the plane, Trevor labels it as "quite a baptism." and soon their friendship was cemented.

1990s

He and Michael continued to work together and later robbed a bank for cashed cheques sometime after 1988. Trevor, however, was identified by a friend and was sentenced to six months in prison but served only four months. He later implies to Ralph Ostrowski that he raped men while in prison, although this could be an attempt to convince Ostrowski not to try and escape. When switching to Trevor, sometimes he will be vomiting and claim that he swallowed that nose ring during the 1990s, possibly from snorting drugs.

The two ended up gaining a crew, consisting of Lester Crest, a man named Moses and several other unnamed members, and the crew started pulling larger heists. Their friendship began to strain when Michael began to date a stripper with the stage name Krystal. Michael and Amanda then married and had two children, Tracey Townley in 1991, and Jimmy Townley in 1993. With his new family Michael wanted to take less risks in order to protect them, and Trevor takes a liking to the children, who call him uncle. He recalls an oath he made to himself in 1993 while bouncing Tracey on his knee that he would rip the skin off of anyone who would do her harm.

Trevor and Jimmy became very close, as Jimmy considered him an uncle. They prominently hung out seemingly by themselves without supervision as Jimmy got older, as in 2001 Trevor was oblivious to the fact that a twelve year old Jimmy understood his dangerous and reckless lifestyle, pointing out to him that he knew what the needles, beer cans and guns laying about his home were about.

Between the early 90s and early years of the 21st century, most of their crew members were either killed, or imprisoned, with the only named exception being Moses having found Jesus according to Lester.

2004

The two, however, did continue to pull off certain heists. Eventually meeting Bradley Snider, whom Trevor became friends with. However it became apparent that Michael and Brad didn't get along. At one point Brad suggests cutting Michael out of the crew to Trevor, but Trevor wouldn't have it. It may have been this situation that leads to Trevor somewhat disliking him, as he states later in the game that he may have killed Brad himself at one point.

In 2004 the crew had planned to rob a bank depot in Ludendorff with a local unnamed accomplice hired as a driver. The four pull off the robbery but Bradley and Michael are shot by FIB agent Dave Norton, who had been tipped off about their escape route by Michael who had looked to escape the FIB ambush. Trevor, after attempting to hold off the police, manages to escape through the snowy wilderness and believes that Bradley had been sent to a federal prison and Michael had died, with a funeral even taking place. Trevor, however, was unaware of Michael's deception and that Bradley had been killed, buried in Michael's grave. At some point after this he acquires a tattoo on his left arm reading "RIP Michael, 1965 - 2004, Brother".

2004 - 2013

After the botched robbery Trevor became the subject of a nationwide manhunt, traveling across America, committing crimes spanning over fifteen different states for the next eight years, and at some point before 2011 Trevor had ended up in a trailer in Sandy Shores, Blaine County in Southern San Andreas. Trevor meets a local man called Chef (possibly a nickname made by Trevor himself) who can cook methamphetamine, and puts him to the test by having Chef join him in robbing a Cash for Gold man. Trevor ends up murdering the man and his bodyguard and the two bury the bodies in a junkyard. Around this point Trevor starts gaining customers such as Larry Tupper, Johnny Klebitz and members of The Lost Brotherhood, and members of the Varrios Los Aztecas. It is assumed he and Chef may have been cooking out of an RV or a smaller confined space before their business took off.

After the Cash for Gold incident, Trevor upgrades his meth business and purchases a large amount of glassware and the Liquor Ace store in Sandy Shores and establishes Trevor Philips Industries in 2012, a small criminal gang that manufactures and supplies methamphetamine to the people of Blaine County, with the help of Chef. He also smuggles weapons to fellow criminal Oscar Guzmán. Trevor later convinces Ron Jakowski to divorce his wife and leave his job, moving next door to Trevor and joining his gang. In 2012 he and Chef are joined by Wade Hebert. Wade had been looking for drugs in Sandy Shores before going to a concert for Fatal Incursion known as a "gathering" with his friends Daisy Bell and Kush-Chronic. The friends were taken to Davis Quartz Quarry and are killed by Trevor in an act to keep Wade with him, possibly seeing he was weak and controllable. His movements after the bank robbery in Ludendorff are followed by agent Norton, who writes letters to Trevor pretending to be Bradley in prison.

Grand Theft Auto V

In early 2013 he begins to occasionally have sex with Ashley Butler, a Lost member and girlfriend of Johnny Klebitz, the former leader of the Lost Brotherhood. Trevor then continues to have an associate, who had formerly been hampering Trevor's gang, work against the Lost Brotherhood and others to re-establish some control of Blaine County. Later in the year while having sex with Ashley, he sees a Weazel News report about a heist at Vangelico's Fine Jewelry store in Los Santos and after hearing an eye witnesses account, realises that Michael Townley had been involved. He leaves his trailer and is confronted by Johnny about his sexual relationship with Ashley. Trevor, after losing his temper, kills Johnny and drives to Stab City where he kills a number of the Lost Brotherhood gang members, including Clay Simons and Terry Thorpe.

He orders Wade Hebert, who along with Ron Jakowski had accompanied Trevor, to locate Michael in Los Santos before leaving with Ron to take out Ortega, a Los Varrios Aztecas gang member. While waiting for Wade, he continues to expand his operations in Blaine County and attempts to forge links with the Wei Cheng Triads. The gangs leader, Wei Cheng, sends his son and his sons translator to discuss a possible partnership but, when they were about to inspect Trevor's methamphetamine lab they were placed into an exterior refridgerator for their own safety. Trevor, after killing the attacking bikers, let the two out. The two leave without any further interaction with Trevor and later agree to work with the O'Neil Brothers. An angry Trevor later kills all but three of the O'Neil brothers and destroys their farm.

Wade then returns and informs Trevor that there are two Michael Townley's in Los Santos but neither match Trevors description but a Michael De Santa, married to a woman called Amanda and with two children, matches the description. Trevor, after killing more Lost Brotherhood gang members and destroying their camp, drives to Los Santos with Wade to an apartment that Wade's cousin Floyd lives in. Trevor later confronts Michael at his house, much to the dismay of Amanda, and teams with Michael once again to stop Michael's daughter Tracey from auditioning for Fame or Shame. The pair chase Lazlow through Los Santos and into the Los Santos River, with Trevor forcing Lazlow to take off his trousers and dance, which he also records with his phone and later posts to the internet.

Trevor continues to live with Floyd and Wade in the apartment but, after learning Floyd works at the Port of Los Santos, begins to create plans to pull off a heist with Michael. Floyd is forced to take Trevor and Wade to the docks where they work, with Trevor noticing a freighter being protected by Merryweather Security Consulting. Floyd explains that nobody is allowed near the freighter and Trevor, assuming the cargo is valuable, begins to plan a way of stealing the cargo. Trevor, however, is later taken to Covington Supplies in El Burro Heights where, along with Michael and Franklin Clinton, are forced to retrieve Ferdinand Kerimov from the IAAbuilding for the FIB. The three successfully retrieve Kerimov and Trevor keeps the helicopter for himself, flying it back to his airfield in Blaine County. Trevor later helps the FIB and agents Norton, whom he recognises but can not place where he knows him from, and Steve Haines to torture Kerimov allowing Michael, with the information given by Kerimov relayed by Haines, to kill an Azerbaijaniterrorist suspect. It is also suggested that he sexually assaults Floyd while living at the apartment and also has sex with Mr. Strawberry Jam, a teddy bear owned by Floyd's fiancé. Trevor also helps Franklin and Lamar Davis in their attempt to purchase drugs from a Ballas gangster on Grove St, which is a set up by Stretch to kill Franklin and Lamar, who escape with Trevor and Lamar's dog Chop.

Trevor, having finalised his plans, enlists the help of Michael, Franklin, Wade and Floyd to pull off the heist and steals the cargo despite being warned by former associate Lester Crest that the cargo, a military weapon capable of destroying Los Santos. The gang, after realising that Lester was correct, abandon the cargo. Trevor, angry at not getting anything from the heist, is forced to ambush a Securicar carrying IAA bonds for the FIB and then begins to work with Devin Weston, stealing two sports cars with Michael and Franklin, and then helping Franklin to steal a Z-Type owned by Chad Mulligan.

Around this time while in Los Santos, Trevor also comes into contact with a number of different people including Nigel and Mrs. Thornhill, for whom he steals Tyler Dixon's clothes, Willie McTavish's golden tooth and Kerry McIntosh's dogs collar, kills Mark Fostenburg for his golf club and kidnaps Al Di Napoli, later having the option to kill him. He also meets real estate agent Josh Bernstein, agreeing to hinder and later beat up Josh's rival, Lenny Avery, and burn down Josh's house. Josh later informs the police and has them try to arrest Trevor, who escapes. The player can also choose to kill Josh. He also meets MaryAnn Quinn and, after beating her now ex-boyfriend, beats her in a bike race in Vinewood Hills. Trevor also encounters Barry and, after smoking some powerful marijuana, has a halucination he is being attacked by clowns. In Blaine County meanwhile, he assists Joe and Josef to 'arrest' various people they believe to be illegal immigrants, including Manuel, and later kills the duo on orders from Manuel who had been released by the police after proving he was an American.

Trevor again works with Michael to kill Javier Madrazo, the cousin of Mexican-American drug cartel leader Martin Madrazo, for Martin who did not want his cousin to testify against him in an upcoming trial. Trevor also kidnaps Martin's wife, Patricia Madrazo, as he could not stand to witness Martin treat his wife badly and after having a dispute with Martin about payment for killing his cousin. Trevor, along with Michael and Patricia, are forced into hiding at his trailer in Sandy Shores.

Trevor and Michael, despite being in hiding, are forced to to rob the Blaine County Savings Bank to obtain funds to perform a terrorist attack on the FIB building for FIB agents Norton, Haines and Andreas Sanchez. Trevor, Michael and Franklin, with technical and planning support from Lester, successfully pull off the heist despite the involvement of the military, and also steals an artifact from a train that he and Michael had derailed. While in hiding Trevor also hijacks a Merryweather plane containing weapons and, with help from Michael, Franklin and Chop, locates and kills Elwood, Walton and Wynn O'Neil. The Wei Cheng Triads also locate Trevor during this time, witnessing his close relationship with Michael.

Michael and Trevor eventually return to Los Santos after Trevor returns Patricia to her husband, despite having fallen in love with her, and immediately takes control of the Vanilla Unicorn strip club by secretly killing the clubs owner Leon. He later keeps Wade at the club, with a never ending string of lap dances, in an attempt to distract him after killing his cousin Floyd his fiancé Debra. He begins planning both one last heist, for a large score, and the terrorist attack on the FIB building. Having had a long time to think about the events of the ill-fated bank robbery in Ludendorff, he flies back to the small town to dig up Michael's grave. After digging up the grave and opening the casket, he finds a decomposed Bradley Snider and begins to shout at Michael, who had followed him to prevent him from discovering the truth, warning Michael that he will kill him at some point in the future. Trevor's anger stemmed not from Bradley being murdered, describing Bradley as a "dick", but at the fact that Michael had betrayed his friends. Trevor leaves but Michael is kidnapped by the Triads, who attempt to kidnap Trevor by killing Michael, believing them to be lovers, although Michael is later rescued by Franklin.

Trevor continues to watch Michael from a distance and helps him and agent Norton escape an ambush from the IAA, FIB and Merryweather at the Kortz Center, and is later tricked into working with Michael again to rescue Lamar, who had been kidnapped by the Ballas in another attempt by Stretch to have him killed. Trevor and Michael later agree to work together one last time to pull off the biggest heist by robbing the Union Depository, which they successfully do with a group of accomplices and Lester.

The player is the left to determine the games ending. The player can either kill Michael as Franklin, with Trevor ending his friendship with Franklin or to kill Trevor. A third option, to save both, results in the trio killing their enemies (Wei Cheng, Stretch, Steve Haines and Devin Weston), with the three agreeing to end their business relationship but maintain their friendship, with Michael and Trevor finally coming to terms with their past. Trevor later meets his mother at his trailer and steals a van of Deludamol for her but, after returning to his trailer, discovers that his mother has left without informing him.

Personality

The game reveals that Trevor has become increasingly unstable throughout his life, partly due to his abusive father and overbearing mother, and partly from his addiction to drugs and alcohol. Despite these issues, he is always honest with his dealings with others. Trevor frequently points out the hypocrisy of those around him, believing himself to be a moral person. He encourages rumours that he has been involved in acts of cannibalism, incest and necrophilia, while it is also suggested that he has sodomised his hockey coach and raped Floyd Hebert. The player can, on certain occasions, also have Trevor deliver people to The Altruists, which is implied to consist of cannibalistic killers, which Trevor knows. He has explosive anger, such as when he killed Johnny, and does not always realise the extent of his actions, having told Johnny to "get up" after he had killed him.

His abandonment issues also leave him desperate for some sort of relationship with those around him. He reduces Wade Hebert and Ron Jakowski to dependents and shows genuine interest and concern about Maude Eccles, Patricia Madrazo, Michael De Santa and his mother, and later Franklin Clinton and Lamar Davis. He appears to fall in love with Patricia while holding her hostage while Patricia shows some sort of affection to Trevor in return. While confronting Debra and Floyd Hebert, he tells them how he wants to live with them. He also attempts to keep Wade from discovering the truth that he murdered his cousin Floyd, and his fiancé Debra, by keeping him at the Vanilla Unicorn strip club with continual lap dances. He also shows genuine concern for Michael and Amanda's children, Jimmy and Tracey, despite disliking Amanda and, for a certain time, Michael. He also refuses to kill Ferdinand Kerimov, believing he had endured enough while being tortured, and drives him to the airport.

He appears to be extremely protective over women, criticizing Wade for calling Ashley Butler a "bitch" even after he has a choice to kill her. He also criticises the Los Santos Police Department, Joe and Josef for their racist ways despite mocking Wei Cheng's accent over the phone in the mission Bury the Hatchet. Despite killing without reason, he criticizes the FIB for their use of torture, which he had been involved in. He dislikes being called a "motherfucker", which he takes literally, and also takes offense to people talking about his Canadian heritage, both of which trigger an uncontrollable rage. Dave Norton and Steve Haines, when asking Franklin to kill Trevor, describe him as uncontrollable.

Trevor appears to be a hypersexualized pansexual, or at the very least, bisexual. He makes frequent sexual passes at others - he is also implied to have raped Floyd Hebert, and use Mr. Raspberry Jam as a sex toy. His relationship status on Lifeinvader also states 'Any hole's a goal'.

Special ability

Trevor's special ability is to become enraged, resulting in him taking less damage while being attacked.

Trivia

Trevor has a tattoo on his neck that consists of a dotted line and an instruction stating "Cut here" in the center of his neck, "FUCK YOU" is on his knuckles, and a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads "RIP Michael".

Unlike Michael and Franklin, Trevor did not appear in the first GTA V trailer.

Trevor is the first protagonist to willfully use chemical drugs in their respective game.

Trevor was the first protagonist of GTA V to have his full name revealed.

Trevor is the first Canadian protagonist, and the third protagonist of the series to come from another country, after Niko Bellic and Huang Lee. He mentions that he grew up in Canada near the United States border. Trevor's voice actor, Steven Ogg, is also Canadian.

Trevor is the first protagonist in the whole GTA series who can successfully kill another protagonist from the previous game with no determinant status.

Trevor hints on separate occasions that he is or was a serial killer. Victims including hitchhikers and the homeless. At one point while out with Franklin, Trevor will state that the San An Strangler is on the loose, but then defends himself by stating he doesn't strangle anymore. This would make Trevor the first protagonist to also be a serial killer.

If the player decides to assassinate Trevor, it is unknown if Wade or someone else takes over the Vanilla Unicorn after his death.

Despite disliking the word "motherfucker", he uses it on numerous occasions in GTA V.

Trevor states in a conversation with Franklin, he isn't actually sure if his first father is his biological one

Trevor states upon waking up from huffing gas that he actually hates it.

Trevor's death is ironic as he is killed in gasoline, a substance that he was heavily addicted too and most likely worsened his psychological problems.

In the European version of the game, when switching to Trevor he will sometimes be on top of a mountain wearing nothing but a dress. He will not be wearing underwear and you can see his penis. This is the only known way to get Trevor to go commando.

It is implied that Trevor at one point slept with his own mother. He claims to be an "incest kinda guy" and seeing his mother brings him into uncontrollable hysterics. After picking up a hooker, when Trevor is having an orgasm he will sometimes shout out and groan "Mother!" adding to the theory.

Trevor's character personality is very similar to Billy Grey, he is an out of control addict, who acts before thinking, and causes problems to those around him with his short temper and bad decisions. The character aspect that defines the line between antagonistic character or a protagonist is loyalty. Billy will, and has, betrayed his close friends, while Trevor is intensely loyal and will not directly stab a friend in the back. (Trevor is abusive to some ofhis friends, but only in an attempt to control them with fear, and keep them loyal to him as he has abandonment issues). Both characters have also had sex with Ashley Butler, to spite Johnny Klebitz.

Trevor's texting is very poor, with little to no proper grammar, use of single letters or numbers to replace words, and usually misspelling everything. However, his texting in Grand Theft Auto Online is almost perfect, using full sentences and punctuation. This may be an oversight, however it is likely so that his texts are easier to read for players online.

While insulting pedestrians in the street, Trevor will sometimes state "Why hasn't someone sensible shot you yet?" Ironically, the mission in which he can be killed is called Something Sensible.

Trevor appeared in a pornographic film called Midget Fuckers 22 as stated by pedestrians on the streets who recognize him.

Trevor states in the mission Pack Man that he and Michael met when they were both twenty. Confirming Trevor's age, and tying with Micheal for being the oldest protagonists in the Grand Theft Auto series.

Trevor and Tommy Vercetti are the only protagonists to be present for the death of another protagonist in a non-determinant situation. (Tommy witnessed Victor Vance get gunned down during a deal, and Trevor stomped Johnny Klebitz to death)